Very Sad...

I lost a very special friend.  She was one in a million and I will never have another friend like her.

I hesitate to even write because words will not do her justice.  She was that special.

She came into our lives in 2006 when she was 6 years old.  Her original owners were unable to keep her.  I truly believe they must have loved her because she was so sweet.  I found her on Pet Finders and she was being fostered by a Veterinarian's wife.  She had needed two surgeries and was finally ready to be adopted.

Her name was Sophie and we weren't about to rename her.  That name belonged to her.

She was a Miniature Schnauzer with a laid back Collie or Lab's personality.  Yes, she barked like a Schnauzer, but loved everyone she met.  I would joke that if someone broke in while we were gone she would run up and lick them and act like their new best friend.

She even loved and tolerated the cats.  That's her in the upper right hand corner.

One of the cats had a bad habit of making Sophie move.  If Sophie was sleeping on one of the couches Murphy would go over and nudge her until she moved.  Usually she'd jump off one couch and onto the other and lay down with a sigh.  That's about as much as she'd complain.

She enjoyed sleeping in cat beds more than the cats.

I suspect at times she might have thought she was a cat.

In May I took her to the Veterinarian and she had lost some weight.  That was strange because she was eating just fine.  But over the summer she stopped eating as well and finally didn't want to eat much at all.

We ended up taking her to a specialist and she had lumps and bumps in her spleen.  It was probably cancer.  I opted for surgery, but her pre-op blood work showed that her kidney wasn't functioning as well anymore.  (She only had one good kidney.)  We tried IV's to see if the numbers would improve, but they didn't improve enough.  She did start eating a little more, so we brought her home to love for a little while longer.  We knew the days were numbered.

I didn't want her trying to jump on and off my bed, so we put one of those blow up mattresses smack dab in the middle of the den floor.  Reid and I took turns sleeping there with her at night.

She loved all the extra attention.  She was in no pain.  We became pretty creative trying to find things she would eat.  Reid had some success with dog omelets.  Since she loved eggs he'd put dog food inside an omelet.

Eventually that wouldn't even work.

Reid and I talked.  We knew it was time to let our friend go.  Last Thursday we took her for a long car ride.  That was one of her favorite things to do.  We drove back over to Friendswood and took her for a ride past our old house.  When we turned down the street she sat up straight.  She had always done that when we lived there and would return home.  Somehow she knew.

We took her for one last ride on Friday.  She was always happy to go to the Veterinarian and last Friday was no exception.  In a way that made it easier.

We miss her so much.  She was definitely one in a million.  I feel so sad and lost without her.  Jim used to say that he had "one dog" and I had "all those cats,"  but she truly belonged to all of us.

 

Blogging Break...

I've taken a blogging break.

My sweet Sophie isn't doing well.  She's a 13 year old rescue dog that we adopted when she was 6 years old.  She's the friendliest Miniature Schnauzer you'll ever meet.

We discovered about a month ago that she probably has cancer in her spleen.  I took her in for surgery, but the pre-op blood work showed that her kidney wasn't functioning as well as it should and surgery would be risky.  She only has one working kidney anyway, so this wasn't good news.

I brought her home and as long as she's in no pain or discomfort we'll do what we can for her.  She's lost a lot of weight, but we're usually able to entice her to eat with things she's never eaten before.  She's always been on prescription diet food, but now we give her what she'll eat.  We also give her lots of chopped ice.

She's a happy little dog, but I don't think she has much longer.  Meanwhile, I try and keep her downstairs.  We put a blow up mattress on the den floor and Reid and I take turns sleeping down there with her.  I got concerned about her jumping up and down off my bed upstairs.  Of course, the cats think the mattress is for their comfort and convenience, but we all share.

 March 2011

Anyway, the computer is upstairs and I just have limited time on it, so for now I'll be hit and miss in the blogging world. 

Never a dull moment...

We've been home a little over a week and things certainly haven't been dull around here.

I had another cat get sick.  I really don't understand what's going on.  Normally our animals are all quite healthy, but while Reid was away Sophie (our dog) and then Roscoe (one of the cats) came down with urinary track infections.  Since we've been home Zoom (our little terror cat) also developed a urinary track infection and she refuses to eat.  That has meant daily trips to the Veterinarian for feedings and fluids.  She's on antibiotics and obviously feeling much better, but she still won't eat.  I'd be a lot more concerned if she wasn't acting quite normal in every other way.  I did see improvement this morning when she licked a little food off my finger, but that's still not really eating.  So, I'll have to take her for more food and fluids a little later.

Meanwhile, my 19 year old cat has personal problems.  Poor Grace is constipated again and will also be seeing the Veterinarian a little later.

Reid continues to do well.  All of his blood work looks very good and I believe the doctor is pleased with his progress so far.  The big problem is the constant fatigue.  He wants to do more, but then does and becomes exhausted.  He no longer needs the weekly IV, so last Wednesday we celebrated by going to Kenny and Ziggy's for lunch after his appointment at MD Anderson.  It was the first time Reid has eaten in a restaurant since before he entered the hospital on December 15th.  In fact, it was his first venture out in public.  We tried to go at a time when Reid wouldn't be exposed to too many people, but that place always seems to get busy!  Kenny and Ziggy's is located in Houston near The Galleria and is a NY Delicatessen type restaurant.  (My kind of place!)  The servings are huge and we got two more meals out of our leftovers!

Did you see 20/20 last Friday with Robin Roberts?  (The link will take you to hulu.com and the 20/20 broadcast.)  If you did, you should have a good idea of what Reid has been through, only he's been through two stem cell transplants within the last two years.  A stem cell transplant and a bone marrow transplant are basically the same thing.

I've been following Robin's progress closely since she's about three months ahead of Reid in her recovery.  Her transplant was on September 20, 2012 and Reid's was on December 21, 2012.  It was really exciting to see her return to Good Morning America.  Her situation and Reid's were so similar.  Both of them were very fortunate to have a sibling that was a match.  I've read that only 25% of patients have a close relative that matches, but I heard Robin say it's 30%.  Regardless, most people aren't as fortunate as them.  Then Robin lost her mother right before her transplant and we lost Jim right before we learned that Reid had relapsed.  So, there are definite similarities.  I'm thrilled to see Robin doing so well.

We did have a few moments of panic this morning when Reid couldn't find his bottle of Tacro which is the anti-rejection medication.  He hadn't needed it in almost a week because he had a pill box full of all his medications.  It was only when he needed to refill the box that he couldn't locate the bottle. He does carry the bottle down to the hospital on appointment days because he can't take a pill until after the blood draw.  No sense in carrying the whole pill box when the bottle of Tacro fits easily in his pocket.  We knew he had it last Wednesday and finally found it in the car.  What a relief since he can't miss a single dose and it would have meant a trip down there today.

Anyway, things are settling down a little and I've been trying to catch up on lost sleep.  It's not unusual for me to indulge in an afternoon nap.  I have a hundred things I should be doing around here, but right now those naps are a luxury that I'm enjoying.

Tuesday's Show and Tail...Sophie is better!

Welcome to Tuesday's Show and Tail sponsored by Angela over at West Virginia Treasures  Please head over to Angela's blog for a list of participants and information on how you can join in on the fun.

I posted about our dog's e-coli infection last week.  You can read about it here.  I wanted to let everyone know that Sohpie is better.  Her latest test showed absolutely no e-coli!  Since she never really acted sick she's acting no different, so we'll just have to go by the test results.

Here's a picture of Sophie and Ash taken last March.  I haven't had my camera out this week. :)

 Just wanted to share the good news!
Now head over to Angela's blog to see more pets/animals.

Tuesday Show and Tail...My Sweet Little Sophie

Welcome to Tuesday's Show and Tail sponsored by Angela over at West Virginia Treasures.  A list of this week's participants and information on how you can join in are posted on her blog.

Our sweet Sophie has had an e-coli infection in her kidneys.  I suspect she had it for a while and I didn't realize because this dog has NEVER gone in the house.  Even when Reid was in the hospital and she'd have to wait ten hours to go out she never went in the house.  Then one day I came home from the store and didn't put her out right away.  She had an accident in the hallway and I blamed myself for not getting her out right away.  It did seem very unusual, but she was excited to see me and had waited a while, so I dismissed it as a one time thing.  Then she went in the house two more times in the next few days and that's when I suspected something was wrong and brought her to the Veterinarian.

She was treated for a bladder infection, but the infection didn't get better.  Then it was discovered that it was e-coli, but it still didn't get better on the oral medication.  Eventually she had a sonogram and we were told it was in her kidneys.  She started daily injections.  I gave her the first six shots, but then she knew it was coming and would move on us, so the last shots were given at the Veterinary Clinic.  Last week I took her every day for three days so they could try and flush out her kidneys with IV's.  I would leave her for the day and bring her home in the evening.  They left the thing in for the IV, so we had to make sure she didn't pull it out.

The funny thing is that this happy go-lucky dog still loves to go the the Veterinarian.  I've never had a dog like that before and I was afraid all of this would make her change her mind, but I took her yesterday and she was still happy.

Yesterday they got a sterile urine sample to send off the the lab.  We'll have the results in a few days and I'm hoping she'll be OK now.

We've only had her for around six years and she was six when we adopted her.  She had never had an X-ray before, but the Veterinarian took one a couple of weeks ago.  She showed me the X-ray.  At some point in her life someone shot her.  You can see the buckshot in the X-ray.  Why someone would shoot such a sweet dog is beyond my ability to comprehend.  I felt like crying.

All of our pets are rescues and I wish they could talk and tell us their stories.

Now head over to Angela's blog so you can visit other animal posts today.

It's been a while...

I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I sometimes lack the time and/or energy to get something written.  I decided to spend a little time this morning writing an update.

Reid slowly recovered after his last chemo.  This is a stronger chemo and has left him quite fatigued, but at least the nausea gradually subsided.  We thought he'd be having his second round of chemo by now, but his platelets are still too low in spite of a platelet transfusion on Thursday.  The Oncologist said that this isn't at all unusual and we'll just wait until they go up to a safe level for chemo.  He'll have more blood work on Tuesday and another appointment with the Oncologist.  They've got him scheduled for admission to the hospital on Tuesday, so I'm assuming that means the Oncologist is pretty certain the platelets will be up by then.

This has been a busy week with four days spent down at MD Anderson for various appointments.  He was seen in the Stem Cell Transplant Center and we all attended a mandatory class on transplant.  We learned that he'll spend approximately three to four weeks in the hospital and then he'll need a caretaker with him 24/7 for up to another 30 days once he's home.  We might have to rent a place down near the medical center since they're required to be within 30 minutes of the hospital for those 30 days and we're 45 minutes to an hour depending upon traffic.

In order to receive the transplant he must be in full remission.  He'll be receiving more intense chemo when he's admitted to the hospital for the transplant.  This hopefully will destroy all the cancer.  It will also destroy the blood forming cells and suppress his immune system.  Having the transplant makes it possible for him to receive these higher doses of chemotherapy than would otherwise be possible. 

The transplant he'll be receiving is called Autologous which means he'll be his own donor.  His stem cells will be collected, frozen and stored in a laboratory.  Then he'll receive those high doses of chemo to destroy any remaining cancer.  The stem cells are then reinfused and we wait for them to engraft.  The doctor explained that stem cells are like the seeds of the cells.  Once they're infused we wait for them to grow like seeds in a garden.  He assured us that they always grow.

Prior to transplant the stem cells will be mobilized for collection by injections that cause more of them to pour out from the bone marrow into the blood.  They'll then be separated from the blood using some kind of machine and collected in a bag and the rest of the blood returned to him.

You can probably find a much better explanation of all of this here.  My explanation might not be completely accurate, but it's the way I understand things right now.  We were given reading material and a CD, but haven't had a lot of time to absorb all the information yet.

We've decided to celebrate Christmas when Reid is feeling up to it.  The way things are looking now that might not be until February, but we'll wait and see.

We received a surprise last week when the florist delivered a decorated Norfolk Island Pine.  My friend Sherelyn had read that I might not have time to decorate for Christmas, so she sent us a decorated tree.  I stood at the door crying and the poor florist didn't know what to say.  Sherelyn will be glad to hear that we did finally bring a few things over from the storage shed and I plan to do some decorating this weekend.  Of course, it looks like our decorations will still be up in February.

Meanwhile, we took the dog to the emergency clinic late last night.  My sister's package arrived and it included a tin of Peppermint Bark from Williams and Sonoma.  In my wildest dreams I never imagined the dog being able to open a tin box, but Jim and I went out to dinner and when we got back the tin was open and the Peppermint Bark was gone.  I know not to let the animals get near chocolate, but I thought the Peppermint Bark was well protected in a metal tin.  Some of the other gifts had been torn open too, but I believe Sophie might have had help from the cats.  I think they were just playing with the paper.  Anyway, Sophie started vomiting and around midnight or so we decided to take her to the clinic.  Her heart rate was up a little, but not dangerously so, and she was given a shot to calm her stomach.  Never a dull moment.

I'd better go.  I have a lot I'd like to accomplish this weekend.  Wish me luck!

30 Days Of Thanksgiving - November 5, 2009

1. I'm thankful for my American Flag that I can freely fly because of the sacrifices made by our armed forces. Today my flag flies in memory of the soldiers lost in the tragedy at Fort Hood.

2. I'm thankful that I was reminded to be thankful for all that I have. It's so easy to take it for granted or forget.

3. I'm thankful that family is never really far away.

4. I'm thankful for the compassionate doctors we have on our side.

5. I'm thankful for our happy dog, Sophie. She always seems to know when to make us laugh.


Reid went back to the Neurosurgeon today and had the staples removed from his back. He was thankful for his first real shower in around three weeks! It was the first thing he did when we got home.

Thanks again for all your prayers!!!

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss...

...and so we keep plugging along leaving no stone unturned in our quest to find treatment for Reid.

Today his application for financial assistance from MD Anderson was submitted by the county clinic. Please say a prayer that his application will be considered. Meanwhile, we're still exploring all other options.

He's been very optimistic, but the last couple of days have been downers as he slowly accepts his diagnosis, limitations, and lack of a treatment plan. He had hoped his legs would have improved some by now, but I think it's still too early. He has an appointment with the neurosurgeon on Thursday to have the staples removed and we'll see what he says then.

Here are some pictures that I took on Monday, October 26th...the day he came home from the hospital.

He said he felt like a kid at the grocery store, but this is what they used to wheel him to the car. Our grocery stores have something very similar only with a shopping cart attached to the back. The dog was something Jim found at a hospital gift shop. We did have a lot of fun with him. People would walk past Reid's room and do a double take. Just about everyone that past thought we had a real dog in his room.

And here's our real dog welcoming him home! (Yikes! The house is a mess...don't look!)

Once again, thank you for your warm thoughts and prayers. Betty

Feral Cat Surprise

OK...I'm going to try again.

We had beautiful weather last week. I love it when they humidity is down. Most of the time there's quite a bit of moisture in the air which means in the summer it's hot and humid and in the winter when it gets cold it's usually a damp cold. I rarely use moisturizer which I guess is one advantage of living here, but I love a warm day without a lot of humidity and that's what we had last week. Perfect weather!

I decided to bring my camera along when I went out in the backyard with Sophie. She enjoys watching squirrels and would do it by the hour if I let her.



She's eight years old, but we've only had her two years. Her original owners were unable to keep her, but she's got a forever home with us.

We were both taken by surprise when our feral cat suddenly appeared. I guess we disturbed her while she was sunning herself in the ferns. I know it's difficult to spot her, but MaMa is behind the bike right up against the trunk of the tree.

It's not easy getting pictures of MaMa. She immediately becomes suspicious when she sees anything in my hand other than her dish of food. She's even more cautious since Hurricane Ike. The day before Ike hit my husband grabbed her and brought her in the house for the storm. It was a traumatic experience for her, but she was a lot better off inside than out in the storm. She didn't appreciate the kind gesture and my husband has the scars to prove it. I just hope she forgets before hurricane season arrives this year because we'd want to catch her again. (I hope my husband forgets too!)

I did check on her later in the day and she was back in her shed.

We've had MaMa for seven years now and I'm as attached to her as I am the inside cats. MaMa however is only attached to the food we feed her.

And poor little Zoom wanted to join us in the yard, but she's an indoor cat now.